England v India

It is not uncommon on the Monday of a Test match for the stewards to outnumber
spectators, but the policy of reducing admission prices, and the prospect of England
going 2-0 up, produced a final-day full house to see India bat through for a draw.

England ultimately came to look back with regret at their disappointing opening-day
bowling performance, when India, having won the toss, made 210 for four in conditions
ideal for seam and, in particular, swing. Hussain went into the game with five quick
bowlers, basing his decision partly on the pitch, but also on the ten-green-bottles theory
of having at least one of them still able to bowl come the final day.

With the attrition rate in the fast-bowling department beginning to make Hussain
feel like Field Marshal Haig, selection was by now revolving around who was fit
enough rather than good enough, and Simon Jones of Glamorgan had already proved
his England credentials by ending an impressive debut at Lord's with a side strain.
Curiously, in what might have been regarded as compassionate leave, England's
physiotherapist had gone away on holiday, but his back-up staff were for once relatively
underworked, with only Dominic Cork - who sustained minor knee damage attempting
a run-out - requiring a visit to the couch. There was, none the less, a mass breakdown
in the radar department, with only Matthew Hoggard able to locate the length and line
required for the conditions. England opened with two swing bowlers, which doesn't
happen very often these days. Ironically, Hoggard swung the ball far too much at times,
and Trent Bridge's recent reputation for offering movement in the air - put down by
some to altered aerodynamics after the addition of two new stands - did not actually
produce many wickets.

Ganguly fought his way back to form and finally came up with something resembling
a captain's innings, while first Agarkar and then Harbhajan showed that even tailenders
could score at six an over with the ball swinging, as long as England were the opposition.
With Steve Harmison producing bounce and hostility on his debut, England might still
have won this match had it not been for the loss of a whole day over the first four
days, to a combination of rain and bad light. However, this proved controversial in
itself, with the umpires constantly peering at their light meters like Indiana Jones trying
to negotiate an underground cavern armed with a box of matches, and regarding every
passing cotton-wool cloud as a potential eclipse of the sun. For the most part, their
myriad offers of the light were hopelessly out of synch with the clause requiring
physical danger to be an essential part of the equation, and it reached laughable
proportions when England's batsmen left the field on Saturday evening in what most
people would have construed as bright sunshine.

By that time England were in a commanding position and seeking to secure four
consecutive Test victories for the first time since 1991-92. A handsome and even
occasionally restrained second Test century from Virender Sehwag had led to a no
more than useful first innings for India, but a majestic 197 from Michael Vaughan had
provided England with the launch pad to something colossal. This was Vaughan's third
Test century of the summer, and with each one his strokeplay blossomed a little more.
Having acquired a mindset of merely protecting his wicket early in his Test career,
Vaughan was now unfurling off-side strokes to put Yorkshire's cricketing public in
mind of Hutton, although in other areas - a Lancashire birthplace and a preference
for a glass of Chardonnay over a pint of Tetley's - he was more a son of the adopted
variety. His scoring-rate didn't have Yorkshire written all over it either: one more run
would have given him 100 between lunch and tea, and all told his 197, a career-best,
came off only 258 balls with 23 fours in 354 minutes.

Alec Stewart's frisky 87 off 92 balls took him past Mike Atherton's total of 7,728
Test runs and to fourth in the all-time England list. And Craig White narrowly missed
out on a century as for the second match in a row, England's tail remembered how to
wag. When India lost both openers early on in the second innings, they were effectively
minus 249 for two and England on course to put the series in their pocket. India needed
at least three of their big four to come good, and they did. With the pitch playing
progressively easier, Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly made the game virtually safe,
although it still required an unbeaten 19 in 84 minutes from the 17-year-old wicket-keeper
Parthiv Patel to eliminate any chance of England snatching victory via a frantic
run-chase.